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Full-Text Articles in Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology

Genetic Analysis Of Adhesion Protein Elmo3 In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Garrison Asper Jan 2022

Genetic Analysis Of Adhesion Protein Elmo3 In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Garrison Asper

Honors Projects

The Extracellular Matrix (ECM) between plant cells is vital for structure, development, and intercellular adhesion. A pectin rich layer in between cells, the middle lamella, is largely responsible for regulating the adhesive properties of adjacent plant cells. Homogalacturonan (HG) pectin, the most common, is synthesized in the Golgi and secreted into the ECM where it undergoes calcium crosslinking, increasing its adhesive properties. Mutations in proteins essential for HG synthesis can reveal a severe adhesion defective phenotype, where the hypocotyls of dark grown Arabidopsis exhibit cell sloughing, curling, and general disorganization. A family of five ELMO proteins are suspected to act …


Identification Of A Tola Protein Binding Site For Bacterial Toxins, Monica Ferrante May 2018

Identification Of A Tola Protein Binding Site For Bacterial Toxins, Monica Ferrante

Honors Projects

Group A colicins are proteinaceous bacteriocins encoded by plasmids that exploit the cellular envelope protein TolA to translocate the cell wall barrier and cellular envelope of the bacterium Escherichia coli. These colicins offer protocols for studying certain protein-protein interactions involved in such membrane transport functions. Previous experimentations suggest the carboxyl-terminal domain of TolA protein contains specific amino acid binding regions required for the translocation of group A colicins into E. coli. The amino acid sequence of this domain varies between E. coli and other gram-negative bacterial species. It has been suggested that this diversity could be utilized to …


Examining The Role Of Grp And Lik1 In Wall Associated Kinase (Wak) Perception Of Pectin In The Plant Cell Wall, Jack Ryan Mitchell Jan 2017

Examining The Role Of Grp And Lik1 In Wall Associated Kinase (Wak) Perception Of Pectin In The Plant Cell Wall, Jack Ryan Mitchell

Honors Projects

Wall associated kinases (WAKs) are cell membrane bound receptor kinases that bind pectin and pectin fragments (OGs).The binding of WAKs to pectin sends a growth signal required for cell elongation and plant development. WAKs bind OGs with higher affinity than native pectin and instead activate a stress response. Glycine rich proteins (GRPs) are secreted cell wall proteins of unknown function. Seven GRPs with 65% sequence similarity are coded on a 90kb locus of Arabidopsis chromosome 2. GRP3 and WAK1 have been shown to bind in vitro, but single null mutations have no discernible phenotype, suggesting that the GRPs are redundant. …


Purification Of A Bacteriophage Protein Involved In Host Range Specificity, Alec Brown May 2016

Purification Of A Bacteriophage Protein Involved In Host Range Specificity, Alec Brown

Honors Projects

The Escherichia coli ferric hydroxamate uptake receptor FhuA serves as the receptor for ferrichrome-Fe(III) complexes, with TonB protein energizing the active transport of the complex. The FhuA receptor is exploited by a variety of bacteriophages as a conduit into the cell. Interestingly, certain of these phages carry a gene called “Cor”, the product of which, when cloned and expressed from a plasmid, blocks transport by FhuA. In the present study, components of the cor gene from the bacteriophage ϕ80 were used to construct an IPTG-inducible MalE-Cor-His6 fusion protein, which allowed for affinity purification of the Cor protein. At 61 residues …


Characterization Of A Novel Clade Of Transporters In Phytophthora, Stephanie Padula, Paul F. Morris Dr, Howard Casey Cromwell Dr., Menaka Ariyaratne, Andrew Wagner May 2015

Characterization Of A Novel Clade Of Transporters In Phytophthora, Stephanie Padula, Paul F. Morris Dr, Howard Casey Cromwell Dr., Menaka Ariyaratne, Andrew Wagner

Honors Projects

The oomycete Phytophthora parasitica has a worldwide distribution and is an economically important pathogen of more than 100 species4. RNA-seq analysis showed that one gene, PPTG_16698 has the 5th highest level of expression of all transport proteins in the zoospore stage, and is highly conserved throughout Phytophthora species. This project attempts to characterize the important biological role that PPTG_16698 plays in P. parasitica and other oomycetes. Three strategies have been implemented to accomplish this goal: growth analysis by heterologous expression in yeast, metabolite analysis in yeast, and construction of a GFP fusion protein to enable localization of …